LayoutService

Provides the ability to obtain the serialized layout (eg. XML) for a single domain object or for all domain objects, as well as the serialized layout for the application’s menu-bars.

API

LayoutService.java

interface LayoutService {
  EnumSet<CommonMimeType> supportedObjectLayoutFormats()     (1)
  String objectLayout(Class<?> domainClass, LayoutExportStyle style, CommonMimeType format)     (2)
  byte[] toZip(LayoutExportStyle style, CommonMimeType format)     (3)
  EnumSet<CommonMimeType> supportedMenuBarsLayoutFormats()     (4)
  String menuBarsLayout(MenuBarsService.Type type, CommonMimeType format)     (5)
}

1	supportedObjectLayoutFormats() Supported format(s) for #objectLayout(Class, LayoutExportStyle, CommonMimeType) and #toZip(LayoutExportStyle, CommonMimeType) .
2	objectLayout(Class, LayoutExportStyle, CommonMimeType) Obtains the serialized form of the object layout (grid) for the specified domain class.
3	toZip(LayoutExportStyle, CommonMimeType) Obtains a zip file of the serialized layouts (grids) of all domain entities and view models.
4	supportedMenuBarsLayoutFormats() Supported format(s) for #menuBarsLayout(org.apache.causeway.applib.services.menu.MenuBarsService.Type, CommonMimeType) .
5	menuBarsLayout(MenuBarsService_Type, CommonMimeType) Obtains the serialized form of the menu bars layout ( MenuBarsService ).

Members

supportedObjectLayoutFormats()

Supported format(s) for #objectLayout(Class, LayoutExportStyle, CommonMimeType) and #toZip(LayoutExportStyle, CommonMimeType) .

objectLayout(Class, LayoutExportStyle, CommonMimeType)

Obtains the serialized form of the object layout (grid) for the specified domain class.

toZip(LayoutExportStyle, CommonMimeType)

Obtains a zip file of the serialized layouts (grids) of all domain entities and view models.

supportedMenuBarsLayoutFormats()

Supported format(s) for #menuBarsLayout(org.apache.causeway.applib.services.menu.MenuBarsService.Type, CommonMimeType) .

menuBarsLayout(MenuBarsService_Type, CommonMimeType)

Obtains the serialized form of the menu bars layout ( MenuBarsService ).

Implementation

The framework provides a default implementation, o.a.c.core.metamodel.services.layout.LayoutServiceDefault.

The service’s functionality is exposed in the UI through a mixin (per object) and a menu action (for all objects):

the Object mixin provides the ability to download the XML layout for any domain object (entity or view model).
the LayoutServiceMenu provides the ability to download all XML layouts as a single ZIP file (in any of the three styles).

The XML can then be copied into the codebase of the application, and annotations in the domain classes removed as desired.

Styles

Each of these actions take as a parameter an instance of LayoutExportStyle. As a developer, you have a choice as to how you provide the metadata required for customised layouts:

COMPLETE

... for if you want all layout metadata to be read from the .layout.xml file. Copy the file alongside the domain class.

You can then remove all @ActionLayout, @PropertyLayout and @CollectionLayout annotations from the source code of the domain class.
MINIMAL

... for if you want to use layout XML file ONLY to describe the grid.

The grid regions will be empty in this version, and the framework will use the @PropertyLayout#fieldSetId, @ActionLayout#fieldSetId, @ActionLayout#associateWith and @Action#choicesFrom annotation attributes to bind object members to those regions.

In practice, you will probably find yourself somewhere in between these two extremes, deciding which metadata you prefer to define using annotations, and which you like to specify using layout file.